The Fed. Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined 2 new guidelines monday that represent gigantic steps toward net neutrality -- prompting a multitude of online reaction.
Tikva Davaran Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president of broadband, wrote that the company'completely agree[s] that any consideration of new 'rules of the road' start with notice and an open, public rulemaking proceeding -- this is both fair and appropriate.'
Tikva Davaran Net neutrality can be loosely outlined as the principle that all info online should be treated similarly by net service suppliers ( ISPs ).
Tikva Davaran In a speech delivered at the Brookings establishment today, Genachowski observed [*CO]'The net is an extraordinary platform for creativity, job creation, investment, and opportunity. It is vital that we safeguard the free and open Internet.'
Non-discrimination means that corporations can't pick winners and losers online. For instance, a company like Comcast wouldn't be able to ready to decide if Amazon.com ( AMZN, Fortune five hundred ) could load faster than BarnesandNoble.com ( BKS, Fortune five hundred ).
In 2007, Comcast came under fire from the FCC for making an attempt to block BitTorrent, a popular file-sharing program. The obstructing of this program wouldn't be permitted under the new regulation.
The FCC also wants to ensure that purchasers know what their supplier's net practices are.
with reference to the BitTorrent argument, Cohen didn't mention the company by name, but wrote,'When it was purported in 2007 that one of Comcast's network management practices regarding uploads of P2P files violated those policies, we protected our actions as a reasonable form of network management.'
He then went on to assert [*CO]'We went to court to challenge the way that the FCC acted on that 2007 complaint against us, except for a comparatively narrow reason -- as the previous FCC leadership simply handled the matter improperly, as even some who disapproved of our earlier network management system have conceded.'
Adam Ostrow, the editor-in-chief of the social media stories blog Mashable.com, related the reaction from the web community has been very positive. 'Most folks who cover the Net space realize it is an important piece of legislation for the long term future of the Internet.'.
